[Rebirth] King of Theater

Early in the morning, Mr. Bernie Brown, the editor-in-chief of "Short Stories" magazine, rushed into Mr. Tom Curtis's house aggressively.

Then, he slammed this issue of "Literary Weekly" on a small table and shouted, "Tom!"

Mr. Curtis was standing in front of the drawing board with his friend Robert, admiring the painter's work last night.

At this time, seeing another good friend Bernie Brown barging in like this, he couldn't help being slightly taken aback. He slowly raised his head and asked, "What's the matter, my friend?"

Bernie Brown was tall and strong, just looking at his appearance, I am afraid that anyone would guess that he is an athlete, some kind of football quarterback, and would not think that he is actually a cultural person who engages in literary creation.In his mother's words, "I never worried about Bernie getting sick, this kid is as strong as a little brown bear".

This is absolutely true. Mr. Bernie Brown seldom got sick since he was a child. Moreover, due to his size advantage, few people dared to bully and provoke him. He grew up happily and smoothly all the way.

But what's interesting is that his personality has nothing to do with brown bears. On the contrary, he usually behaves softly and speaks softly. He has always been the most amiable person.

But now, such a kind person stood in front of Mr. Curtis with a face full of anger, as if he was really an angry brown bear.

The painter Robert on the side was taken aback.

If he didn't know that the two people in front of him were also good friends, he would definitely jump up and fight immediately.

"my friend?"

Mr. Bernie Brown repeated what Mr. Curtis said, and asked with widened eyes: "Ha, so you still consider me a friend?"

A question mark slowly appeared on Mr. Tom Curtis's face.

But he has always been calm, and although he felt strange, he still slowed down his voice and said, "Where do you start with this, Bernie? We have been friends for at least seventeen or eighteen years. What happened? Tell me first. Even if it is a felon, before the judge convicts, he should be given a chance to defend himself!"

"Oh, all right!" Bernie replied indifferently.

Then, he took a deep breath, as if he was trying his best to adjust his emotions, and after a while, he calmly explained the ins and outs: "I saw a very good novel in "Literature Weekly" yesterday, so I called , Wilson (who is the editor-in-chief of "Literary Weekly", a little expert at cheating friends) said that you recommended it to him."

"That's what happened."

Curtis said thoughtfully: "However, this Wilson is too talkative. I'm not saying that there is nothing to say about this, but this happened in less than a week..."

Bernie Brown ignored him for the second half, and continued to ask: "He told me that the author of that novel counts as half of your student."

"You could say the same."

"He also said that the author likes "Literary Weekly" very much. Before that, he asked a friend (Wilkins: How dare you say it!) to ask him to contribute an article, and he published an article called "What friend Will?" ..."

"It's My New Friend Will."

"That's right, that's the name."

"Well, I have to say that this man Wilson has always been untrue. I'm not sure if my student likes Literary Weekly very much, but it does."

"Okay! The crime is clear, do you want me to continue?"

"……I don't know."

"you do not understand me!"

Mr. Bernie Brown poked his thick chest with his thick fingers, and said loudly: "I have known you for seventeen or eighteen years, and I am your best friend (Robert coughed next to him), One of the best friends. But what about Wilson? What is he?"

"It's not nice to talk about people behind their backs like that, Bernie."

Mr. Curtis couldn't help reprimanding, "Although you are telling the truth."

"Speaking behind his back? I dare to say it in front of him. That bastard Wilson is a cancer in the literary world. Don't think that everyone doesn't know. He often takes bribes from others, and he also engages in shitty connections. He is not famous and does not give gifts. New writers never want to publish a word in "Literary Weekly"; on the contrary, if some messy and unscrupulous things go the right way, he will turn a blind eye to relax the requirements and publish them all. In other words, it is thankful that one-third of the content of each issue of that shitty magazine "Literary Weekly" can be read. This is because the bastard really has a certain vision, and he actually won over several contributors in the early years, plus he usually does It’s not because it’s too expensive, otherwise, that crappy magazine would have closed down long ago.”

Mr. Curtis nodded: "This matter is disturbing, but there are no fish in the water, and there are always some speculators who want to take shortcuts in all walks of life. Instead of blindly targeting them, it is better to let them all go to "Literary Weekly". And, as you said just now, Wilson didn't do too much."

"I don't care if he is too much now!"

Mr. Bernie Brown put on the gesture of 'a strong man with tears' again: "I just want to ask you, you swear to God, in your heart, who is more important, me or Wilson?"

Mr. Curtis began to fidget again, and broke into a cold sweat.

Not only can he not stand other people's compliments, but he can't stand such strong (nasty) emotional expressions from others.

But for the sake of years of friendship...

He still suppressed the fear of numbness in his scalp, and reluctantly replied with a flushed face: "Of course...you, you are more important."

"Then why don't you submit your student's short story to me!"

Bernie Brown slapped his hands on the table heavily, and his whole body leaned forward suddenly. Tu yelled out: "Did you forget that the magazine I run is called "Short Stories"!"

Mr. Curtis: ...you've been making a fuss for a long time, and that's what you're doing!

Mr. Robert, the painter, leaned on the window sill beside him, laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe.

He really likes this friend, and there are always countless jokes around him.

After 10 minutes, the three good friends finally stopped arguing standing up.

They moved to the living room, sat comfortably on the sofa and chatted, and the servant brought coffee and dessert.

The painter Robert has not paid attention to short stories because he was addicted to painting a while ago.

Now that he had finished watching a big play, his interest was also aroused. While the two friends were still in the truce, he first took the "Literature Weekly" brought by Bernie and started making up lessons.

There are not many words in short stories.

He finished reading it quickly, but after reading it, he was speechless for a long time.

Bernie Brown picked up a cookie from the plate and asked while eating, "Tell me, how do you feel?"

"Well written, very well written," said Robert honestly. "It gives me chills!"

"But is such a good novel worthy of publication in Literary Weekly?"

"Uh……"

Mr. Curtis had a helpless face: "Al had submitted to "Literary Weekly" before, I just thought, at least I have a little foundation..."

"That's a basic P. There is no shortage of readers for such a good author." Bernie was still indignant: "You are all an excuse."

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Robert hurriedly smoothed things over and changed the subject.

Pointing to a passage in the magazine, he said, "I really want to draw this scene."

When Bernie Brown and Mr. Curtis heard this, they looked over together...

[Vincent squatted in front of the corpse, patiently holding the knife for a long, long time, and finally cut off the head with great effort. ]

[So he looked at the real head in his hand with ecstasy, and burst out laughing. ]

[The laughter was extremely weird, it started out low and depressing and intermittent, but the tone soon gradually increased to louder, as if it was a kind of mourning, or as if it was laughing wildly. ]

[That sound should have come from hell, it belonged to the devil's silent roar from his throat. ]

After the two friends finished reading, Robert said, "Do you remember the beginning of this novel?"

He turned the pages of the magazine back again, and pointed to the paragraph at the beginning of the novel: [Vincent is a good student, and there is no second good boy in the world. He always studies hard and is never late.] Leaving early and never playing truant...]

"Maybe someone will be frightened after reading this novel, but I feel unspeakably uncomfortable in my heart."

Robert couldn't help complaining: "How much this kid Al hates the characters in his own writing. He treats Vincent so cruelly. A good boy is turned into a devil."

Mr. Curtis said: "You think too much, this prototype of Vincent is himself."

Bernie: ...? ?

Instead, Robert immediately raised his head sharply and asked, "Has he been bullied on campus?"

Mr. Curtis was stunned, and recalled the previous correspondence. For a moment, the optimism between the lines seemed to change into a forced smile (Al: No, no, no, no), and he felt a little uncomfortable for a while: "I was negligent... "

He said with some regret: "When that child wrote to me, he always wrote the stories vividly and interestingly. I never paid attention to this."

Bernie Brown listened, looking very curious.

But he thought about it, and took the opportunity to suggest: "Since you care about it, what's the use of just thinking here? It's better to ask someone out to meet you."

"By the way, let me get to know you too, right?" Although Mr. Curtis was still in a bad mood, he understood what he meant.

He couldn't help laughing and said: "It's useless for you to see, this novel has already been printed in "Literature Weekly", and there is no way to submit it to another publisher."

Bernie said: "This article is another story. I want to make an appointment for the next one. I can't write this one, so I won't write anything else?"

He rubbed his chin, showing a contemplative expression: "Before this, it may be that our people are generally too old, and there are really few people who write about this kind of violence between teenagers. But think about it, the school bullying Everyone has encountered it more or less. If it is possible, I would like to ask him to write a series of short stories on this aspect, preferably at a level similar to "Caused by Human Heads...", which should be Very educational. Alas! You really shouldn’t have given that novel to Literary Weekly, it would be great if it could be used as the opening article of this series!”

The painter Robert was the first to applaud the plan.

He generously promised: "If there is such a series of short stories, I will give you a set of drawings."